Goodreads Summary: On the evening of Sofia Claremont's seventeenth birthday, she is sucked into a nightmare from which she cannot wake.Add to Goodreads / The Book Depository / Amazon
A quiet evening walk along a beach brings her face to face with a dangerous pale creature that craves much more than her blood.
She is kidnapped to an island where the sun is eternally forbidden to shine.An island uncharted by any map and ruled by the most powerful vampire coven on the planet. She wakes here as a slave, a captive in chains.
Sofia's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn when she is the one selected out of hundreds of girls to join the harem of Derek Novak, the dark royal Prince.
Despite his addiction to power and obsessive thirst for her blood, Sofia soon realizes that the safest place on the island is within his quarters, and she must do all within her power to win him over if she is to survive even one more night.
Will she succeed? ...or is she destined to the same fate that all other girls have met at the hands of the Novaks?
Genre: Paranormal, romance
Pages: 147
How I Got It: Received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review
First Line: "I never once imagined that my life would play out the way it did."
Favorite Quote: "I know an excuse when I hear one. Don't you dare deceive yourself into thinking you're the victim, Derek Novak."
Review:
I went into this book cautiously, as I do with all vampire books. The genre seems to be a hit or miss for me in general, but the synopsis is very intriguing, and the gothic feel to the cover definitely fits the tone of the story.
The best thing about this book is that it is interesting. It's a pretty quick read, a little under 150 pages, and they went by rather quickly. The story never really got dull; I pretty much always wanted to know what would happen next. In world that these vampires live in, a place called The Shade, it is constantly nighttime and it's divided into different sections. I enjoyed picturing the setting in my head and the world Bella Forrest has created in general. The vamps are less than noble, what with capturing human slaves and such, but I get the feeling their coven will be dealing with some difficulties in the sequel.
My only real issue is the insta-love. Derek picks out Sophia from a group of girls almost instantly, and from that time on they can't stop thinking about each other. Over time I did start to appreciate their relationship, but in the beginning I definitely had a hard time with it. I'm still not really sure why exactly she is so precious to him.
However, I really liked Sophia as a character. It's always refreshing once in a while to have an MC that is genuinely kind. I was surprised that her relationship with the other girls in the story that are kidnapped didn't morph into lots of manipulation and jealousy - it could have easily happened since Derek gives Sophia so much attention but mostly ignores his other slaves. But maybe, like me, they appreciated her genuineness and saw that she was interested in their well-being.
I'm honestly unsure how I feel about Derek. I disliked him for a portion of the book, but I think that's normal considering he is technically the owner of Sophia. I believe that people can change, though, and I came to realize that he honestly did care for her a lot at the end of the story (not going to say what it was ;).
I would definitely recommend this to someone looking for an interesting paranormal/vampire romance book. Thank you very much to the author for providing me with a copy of her story.
3.5 stars
An except from A Shade Of Vampire:
I’d been meandering along the shore for about an hour when I suddenly sensed that I wasn’t alone. Someone was approaching me from behind. My heart leapt. I was so sure it was Ben, that when a stranger showed up beside me, I couldn’t hide my disappointment.
He must have noticed, because a smirk formed on his lips. “Were you expecting someone else, love?”
I eyed him suspiciously, remembering how many times my father had told me not to talk to strangers. I looked him over, taking in his appearance. My eyes widened. I couldn’t find words to describe how fine a man he was. He was almost beautiful. The first thing I took notice of was how his blue eyes were about three shades brighter than any I’d ever seen before. It was such a stark contrast to his pale – almost white – skin and dark hair. Standing beside me, he was easily more than half a foot taller. His height, broad shoulders and lean build reminded me of Ben, but he had a presence that was far more imposing than my best friend’s.
My gaze settled on his face.
I realized that he was inspecting me just as closely as I was him. His eyes on me suddenly made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable. I gave my father’s advice a second thought, but quickly canceled out all notions of heeding to his counsel when I reminded myself that he stopped caring a long time ago.
I straightened to my full height and mustered all the courage I had to keep myself from running away from this stranger.
Big mistake.
The confident smirk didn’t leave his face for even a moment.
“Like what you see?”
“A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?” I scoffed, annoyed by his audacity.
He stepped forward, closer to me, and leaned his head toward mine.
“Don’t I have the right to be?”
He knew he looked good and wasn’t about to act like he didn’t.
“Whatever,” was my oh-so-brilliant comeback.
My shoulders sagged with defeat as I took a step back, unsettled by how close he was now. I rolled my eyes and did a one-eighty, not quite in the mood to play whatever game this stranger was proposing.
I would soon realize that I was about to play his game whether I liked it or not.
He grabbed my arm and turned my body to face him. This motion alone made every single internal alarm I had within me go off in a frenzy.
This man was danger and I knew it. I tried to wriggle away from his touch, but I was no match for his strength.
“Tell me your name,” he commanded.
I was about to refuse, but was horrified to find myself blurting out my name in response.
“Sofia Claremont.”
As soon as I revealed my name, his eyes lit up with a kind of sinister approval. Then he reached for my face and traced his thumb over my jaw line.
“Hello, Sofia Claremont. You’re one stupid girl for taking a walk alone at this time of night. You never know what kind of evil a pretty little thing like you could happen to come by.”Get a free preview of the first six chapters by clicking HERE.
I found myself wondering exactly what kind of evil he was. But I was suddenly overcome by the sensations that were surrounding me. My senses took in everything at once. I heard the waves, felt the sand, smelled the ocean salt, tasted the flavor of cherry and saw the stranger’s manic appearance as he stuck a needle to my neck. The effect was instant. I was barely able to gasp, much less scream. I went from sensing everything to sensing absolutely nothing.
My last conscious thought was that I may never see Ben again.
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